Ouch! That Hurt!

Blogging can be thrilling and exciting and surprising and scary.

Yes.  Scary.

There are thousands of us.

Painters and sanders and thrifters and upholsterers and junkers and crafters.

Thousands.

Most of us aren’t professionals.  Most of us don’t have degrees in painting or sanding or thrifting or junking or crafting.

We are simply doing what we love…..what we were born to do.

And we put it out there….

                              …..on our blog….

                                          …..for all the world to see.

And sometimes the world loves us.  The world embraces us with open arms, flung wide.  Sometimes the world says…..I love your craft, your painted chair, your upholstered headboard, your distressed bookshelf,  your newly chosen paint color.

And sometimes…..

                              …….sometimes the world doesn’t agree.

My bathroom was recently featured on another blog.

It was a pretty big blog.

And the world saw it…..

                                   ……and found it wanting.

Here’s a sampling of the comments:

“I would have removed/changed the wallpaper and that’s it. The after is generic, boring, bland, safe, martha stewart crap. I can’t fathom why someone would take classy timeless rich stained woodwork and paint it white to look like the cheap vinyl paneling they sell at home depot…..”

“I love wainscoting and plan on having some painted white in my own bathroom soon. However, it should be painted when installed new made from cheap pine, NOT when it has such rich beautiful character and patina as in the before picture. The old stuff made with good wood and stained is such a rarity now. What a waste to paint that and also the rest of the room does feel ho-hum cookie cutter like everything else we see now.”

“Love the white chair rail and even the blue above, but that girly frou-frou all over is not chic. Back to the drawing board.”

And my personal favorite….

 

“It’s a perfectly lovely “before” that could have been easily accessorized, I think.”

Ouch!

That stung.

The comments were harsh.  Truthful in someways….but harsh, nonetheless.

So what do you do with this feedback?

Where do you go from here? 

Simply put, what do you do when you, as a blogger, encounter criticism?

Do you stop creating?  Do you let it into your soul?  Do you cry a silent cry that you were rejected?  Do you lash out at a cold sea of faceless, nameless critics? 

Or do you chose to go on?

 

I create and blog because it is simply who I am.  No degrees.  No professional title.  Not for others.  Not to impress.  Just for me.

My house is me.

My blog is me.

My bathroom is me.

And world, I’m moving on because the thing is……

                                                         ……I really like me.